Well, there's a slight complication to this equation, and if you're a manager you've probably already run into it. The challenge is that what makes one employee feel appreciated is often not what makes another employee feel appreciated.

For instance, organizations sometimes show their appreciation by hosting an annual luncheon for their employees. While some people may appreciate this gesture, others don't. Often, they don't even show up. Or, an organization might give blanket raises to say thanks to their employees for a successful year. Again, this might make some employees feel appreciated, but it misses the mark with others, who might feel the thanks more deeply with a smaller, more personal gesture.

All of us have a different idea of what appreciation looks and sounds like. Managers who learn how to convey appreciation to each of their employees, in ways that resonate individually, are more likely to have a dedicated, high-performing team. This is what "The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace" teaches us how to do.

The book is a natural extension from psychologist Gary Chapman's best-selling book, "The 5 Languages of Love." That book, which has sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into over forty languages, teaches readers how to show love to those around them, in a way that makes them feel loved.

For "The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace," the author partnered with psychologist Paul White, who's spent several decades working to help family-run businesses successfully pass the management of the organization from one generation to the next. Together, Chapman and White spent several years doing research in corporate environments, translating the five languages of love into five languages of appreciation that we can use at work.

So, who should read this book? Well, we can all benefit from the valuable insights the authors give us. Learning how to show appreciation in a way that truly makes an impact on the other person is a skill we can use with our colleagues, suppliers, and customers. Of course, if you're in a leadership role you'll find this information especially relevant, since you can quickly start applying these principles to your own team.

So keep listening to find out why you should spend quality time with some of your team members, how to find out which language will work best with your colleagues, and how you can make a team member feel appreciated with an act of service.

"The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace" is divided into four sections, with 15 chapters in total. And the book covers a wide range of insightful and practical concepts. The first section is fairly short. It covers the five languages idea, and details why business leaders will see a return on their efforts if they learn how to use it. The authors also take time to explain why simply saying thank you isn't enough. They offer an insightful explanation here, and by the time you're done you'll be convinced you need to be doing more to show appreciation for your team.

Section two covers the five languages in greater detail. Section three shows us how to apply these concepts with our team. There's a highly useful chapter here that covers volunteers. If you work in a non-profit, you won't want to miss this. The last section shows us how to overcome common obstacles and pitfalls we might encounter when applying the five languages with our teams.

The authors also include some highly practical tools at the end of the book. Here we get a toolkit that teaches us how to pick up cues that our team isn't feeling appreciated, how to give without actually giving a thing, and other useful insights that managers will find helpful.

One of the most valuable tools, in our opinion, is a brief list of the Top Ten Easiest Ways to Show Appreciation to Almost Anyone. If you're unsure what someone's appreciation language is, you can use any of the ten tips from this list to show your appreciation.

Another bonus is that readers also get a code giving them access to the Management by Appreciation Inventory. This online test helps managers learn their own language of appreciation, so they can better show appreciation to their team. This test is worth the price of the book alone.

It sounds like a lot to take in, but the book is fairly short, coming in at just over 250 pages. Thanks to the authors' writing style, it's a very quick read. Another reason the book goes quickly is that the authors get a bit repetitive at times. So once you've grasped the concept of the five languages, you'll find it easy to skip over some examples.

Starting in the first section, the authors do a thorough job explaining why our traditional methods for showing appreciation aren't effective. The reason is that, much of the time, we tend to communicate to others in the ways that are most meaningful to us. So, if you feel most appreciated when your co-workers pitch in to help you finish your work, you're likely going to show your appreciation to others by doing the same thing. After all, that makes you feel appreciated, so surely it will make your colleagues feel appreciated too!

However, the authors say doing this misses the mark. Your actions, no matter how sincere they are, may not mean to your colleagues what they mean to you. This is why learning the right way to show appreciation to others is so important. Once you learn their language, that is, the action that resonates with them most deeply, you can show them how much their actions mean to you in ways that make a lasting impact.

So, by now you're probably wondering what these five languages of appreciation are. Well, as you may have gathered, they're not actually languages. Rather, they're ways of showing appreciation. The fact that they're referred to as languages may annoy some readers, but it's worth forgiving this inaccuracy for the sake of what you can learn.

The five "languages" are Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Tangible Gifts, and Physical Touch. Let's look at a couple of these in more detail, starting with Quality Time.

People who feel appreciated when this "language" is used need regular expressions of interest in what they're doing. For these people, a little time goes a long way in making them feel valued.

Now, if you're in a management role, this doesn't mean you have to be friends with your team members. It just means you have to take time to let them know the work they're doing is significant.

For instance, spending quality time with a team member could be as easy as sitting down and giving them five minutes of your undivided, personal attention. You want your team member to open up and share with you her successes, frustrations, and suggestions. Giving her your time to do this means a great deal.

However, there's a reason why this appreciation language is called quality time. When you spend time with your team member, make sure you're not doing anything else except focusing on her. Truly listen to what she's saying. Sometimes, people don't need you to fix their problems, they just need you to hear them. So resist the urge to immediately start thinking of solutions. Just hear them out.

As they do for each of the languages, the authors give us plenty of tips to help us demonstrate quality time to our team members. So if you're unsure how to give quality time, you'll get plenty of help here.

Another one of the appreciation languages is Acts of Service. People who respond to Acts of Service feel genuinely appreciated and encouraged when their manager or colleagues pitch in to help them out. This is especially true when help is offered without them having to ask for it. For these people, actions speak louder than words.

What can you do? Well, if you know a team member responds to this language of appreciation, just ask them if they need help with anything, especially when they're stressed or seem behind with their work.

The authors throw in a word of caution here. If you're going to show your appreciation by serving a team member or colleague, it will be effective only if you do the work with a cheerful, positive attitude. Receiving help from someone who is grumpy or resentful won't show any appreciation at all.

The other three languages are covered in great detail in this section as well. The writing is thorough, insightful and very relevant. By the time you're done with section two, you'll be convinced that learning the five languages of appreciation is important to creating a team whose members feel truly valued. The only downside is, as you heard earlier, the authors do repeat themselves a bit in each chapter. The five languages are fairly easy to grasp, so many of you might find yourselves skimming a bit here.

So, understanding the five languages is essential. But now you're probably wondering, how do I tell which languages apply to my team members and colleagues? This important question, and more, are answered in section three.

One easy way to find out the primary appreciation language of those around you is to observe their behavior. For instance, one of your team members might always pitch in to help a colleague who's buried in work. Because she's always willing to help like this, chances are her primary appreciation language is Acts of Service.

Or, you might have a colleague who's always touting the successes of others. This means that Words of Affirmation might be her primary language. Another colleague might always offer hugs or high fives to his team members. If you notice this, then there's a good chance that Physical Touch is his language of appreciation.

The authors say that 75 percent of the time, we express appreciation to others using the language that speaks most deeply to us. So, paying attention to how others show appreciation will give you clues about what's important to them.

Another way we can recognize someone's language is to listen to their complaints. For instance, if you hear a colleague complain that her boss never gives her any verbal feedback, then her language might be Quality Time. If a team member complains that only one person gave him a birthday gift, then Tangible Gifts might be his most important language of appreciation.

The authors bring up an important issue in chapter nine. While all of us have a language that speaks to us on a deep level, there's also a language that doesn't speak to us at all. This is the language that's least important to us. For instance, we might care deeply about Acts of Service, but nothing at all for Tangible Gifts. So, we rarely give gifts or bother with bonuses because gifts mean so little to us.

Our least important language can become a big blind spot. And, this can be disastrous to our work relationships. Just because something isn't important to us doesn't mean it's not important to someone else. The authors give a lot of practical advice here to help us overcome this blind spot, so we can better show appreciation to our colleagues and team members.

The last section of the book covers the common pitfalls we all face when showing appreciation. Here we learn how to show authentic appreciation, how to overcome common challenges to showing appreciation, and how to know if someone's appreciation language has changed over time.

Most readers will find the toolkits at the very end of the book highly useful. We appreciated this at the end, and feel that managers especially will find them valuable.

So, what's our last word on "The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace?"

This is a book that's easy to recommend. There's no doubt the authors have written about a subject that's incredibly important to anyone in a leadership role. And you won't have to read far before you're nodding your head in recognition. It just makes sense that all of us show and receive appreciation in different ways. And learning how to show team members and colleagues the type of appreciation that means the most to them is essential in making sure that our gestures hit the mark. Without a doubt, managers who learn this simple technique will have a team that feels more valued and excited about what they're doing.

Again, the only downside is that the book could have easily been half its length and been just as informative. There's a lot of valuable information here; it just gets repetitive at times. But this can be overcome by skimming, since the concepts are easy to grasp.

"The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace," by Gary Chapman and Paul White, is published by Northfield Publishing.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Click here to buy the book from Amazon. Thanks for listening.